Chapter Text
The time after the Eclipse Cannon was much more solemn for Sonic than before. A lot of moments he would become disassociated and distracted thinking about everything that had happened and grieving Shadow. While Shadow’s whereabouts were unknown, it was assumed the fall to Earth or explosion had killed him. Knuckles only managed to save the other two via ring from the significant distance, so there was no way in any of their minds Shadow survived.
While they weren’t exactly friends, Sonic understood why Shadow made the choices he did and, in Sonic’s mind, Shadow still was a hero who sacrificed his life for Earth. Sonic had already forgiven Shadow in his thoughts and even more so since Tom told them about how he was disguised as someone who actively hurt Shadow when Shadow had attacked him.
“Sonic?” Maddie had gently squeezed his arm, bringing him to the present.
“Huh?” Sonic looked up.
“Are you not hungry?”
The whole family was seated for dinner at the table; everyone’s plates were empty except for Sonic’s who had barely eaten. Sonic pushed some carrots around with his fork. Tom, Maddie, and Tails collectively frowned watching him.
“No, not really.” Sonic shrugged. “It’s really great though.”
“You’ll need your strength, hedgehog.” Knuckles pushed him on the shoulder gently. “As I am to beat you in our game night later.”
“Uh, that’s okay,” Sonic murmured, putting on a polite smile. “I don’t think I’m up for games tonight anyways.”
Tom and Maddie shared a look across the dining table.
Sonic shuffled a few carrots with his fork again.
“Honey,” Maddie sweetly said, “you don’t have to finish your dinner if you’re not hungry.”
Sonic nodded and put down his fork, sitting on his hands. Tails and Knuckles offered to do the dishes while Maddie packed away Sonic’s leftovers. Ozzy happily watched them in the kitchen, hoping for scraps to fall on the floor.
“Hey bud,” Tom whispered to Sonic, “can you help me grab some things?”
Sonic nodded, helped Tom get a jacket over his shoulders before putting on his own, and stepped outside the front door. The air was much colder than the previous days with possible freezing temperatures tonight. They descended the front steps down towards the driveway.
“You doing okay?” Tom asked, already knowing.
“Me? Pft! Yeah! Great! Totally good.” Sonic animatedly responded before sharing a look with Tom, causing his face to fall and ears flopping down. “That obvious?”
“Yeah.” Tom smiled and nodded. “This wouldn’t happen to be about another space hedgehog who is red and black, would it?”
Sonic’s face twisted in pain, he stopped and looked down at the ground. Tom stopped next to him before kneeling down and grabbing Sonic’s hand with his good arm.
“It’s not like he was a bad hedgehog,” Sonic murmured, “he just had a lot of bad things happen and maybe didn’t make the best choices because of the pain. He made good choices in the end but…”
Sonic frowned. He couldn’t express the feelings rolling around in himself. Even with the rocky start, it was nice to have someone who was fast like him and had the same hedgehog camaraderie. As much as he cared about Tails and Knuckles, it felt different with Shadow.
“You miss him a lot, huh.” Tom noted.
A small wave of grief rolled up in the hedgehog’s chest, pulling strings around his heart. He tried to blink the water forming in his eyes and nodded. Tom pulled him in with his good arm for a tight hug, which Sonic gratefully returned and gulped back the feeling rising in his throat.
“I know he wasn’t not exactly liked in our house,” Sonic whispered, “but I just feel bad for him and miss him.”
“Hey,” Tom pulled out of the hug to look at Sonic. “He’s saved billions of lives, and I think that’s a hero in my book. Sure, he might’ve made bad choices, but like you said, he’s not a bad hedgehog. It’s okay if he’s not the favorite hedgehog in the house, anyone important to you is important to all of us.”
Sonic smiled at Tom, took a deep breath, then looked smug.
“Plus, we all know who the favorite hedgehog of the house is anyways.” Sonic boasted with his nose in the air.
“Really? Who?”
“Har. Har.” Sonic retorted flatly and rolled his eyes.
Tom laughed, rubbed Sonic’s head playfully, and continued down the driveway. “Either way, you can talk to me if you need to, okay, bud?”
Sonic nodded. “Thanks, dad.”
They both stopped at the mailbox and Sonic helped carry in the mail with some small packages. Once back inside Tom joined everyone in the living room. Tails was cuddled up between Maddie and Ozzy on the couch, Tom took the far end by Ozzy, and Knuckles was sitting on the floor.
Sonic had gone up to the attic to be alone for a while. He kicked off his shoes and laid in his bed looking up at the ceiling. His thoughts paced back and forth between everything that happened since he was picked up by the G.U.N. transport and the last time he saw Shadow. A long lingering of his thoughts stayed on their time on the moon together and how Shadow seemed so different. He hated that he didn’t have more time with Shadow to get to know him, at least the moon-version of him.
The image of Shadow's face filled his mind. While on the moon, the sunlight had made Shadow's fur and quills almost look dark blue instead of their typical black coloring. The way that Shadow's eyes looked so much kinder than his stoic exterior before they stopped Robotnik's plans. Sonic wondered if all the things that happened to Shadow didn't would they have had more time to be friends.
Sonic got under the covers and quietly let some tears fall thinking about all the things that could have been and his empathy for Shadow and his experience.
After a while, Sonic fell asleep from the exhaustion of it all.
Sonic woke up in the early morning hours just as light could be seen in the sky from the window above in the attic. He felt extremely overheated, he was covered by his blanket, two fox tails, and Tails’ blanket. Sonic gently pulled away from the little fox, who often would cuddle up to him or Knuckles in the middle of the night, and quietly went downstairs.
Maddie was up and making some breakfast in the kitchen as Sonic entered.
“Good morning, you’re up really early.” Maddie sweetly rubbed his head.
“Yeah,” Sonic yawned, “I was pretty tired last night. Are you off to work?”
She nodded, then looked at Sonic with an intrigued look.
“You know… I actually have some things at work that I could use some insight on. Any chance you’d be up to be a vet for the day? You can totally say no, but I think you might like it.”
It was staying here and thinking about Shadow or keeping busy and helping his mom.
The decision was easy.
“Yeah, I’ll join.” He smiled.
“Great! If you’re hungry, help yourself to some breakfast, okay? I need to finish getting ready.”
Maddie went back upstairs to get ready while Sonic happily ate some toast and eggs. Once all set and ready, Maddie added the leftovers into the fridge and left a note that the two of them were off to work.